ôtsôtot Bostet 🫂
Healthcare, Childcare, Funerary Services
Bostet
- You can't pour from an empty cup. Caring for yourself is a prerequisite to caring for others.
- Care is a circle, not a one-way street. The caregiver of today is the one who needs care tomorrow. It is a shared role, not a fixed identity.
- You don't have to understand someone's pain to believe them. Empathy is not about having the same experience, but about offering your presence and trust without demanding proof.
- The chosen family and the biological family are equally valid. The bonds forged by love, affinity, and mutual support are the true measure of family.
- Grief is not a problem to be solved. It is a landscape to be journeyed through. The best you can do is walk alongside someone, not try to pull them out of it.
- Grief is a Communal Process No one should be expected to grieve alone. Grief is a burden the entire community helps to carry, and a space for it should be a normal part of life.
- Care is a Skill, Not Just a Feeling. Empathy is the starting point, but true caregiving is a practiced, learned skill that requires patience, knowledge, and effort. It is a form of essential labor.
- Children are raised by the community, not just by their parents. Every adult has a role to play in the life of every child.
- Care for the caregiver. The community is explicitly responsible for preventing burnout among its healers and helpers. Forcing a caregiver to work to exhaustion is a serious communal failure.
- To remember the dead is to keep them shining brightly in the weave. The act of telling stories about those who have passed is not just a comfort, but a vital practice that keeps their spirit and wisdom alive and accessible to the community.
Appearance
Bostet has no single form as they are made of pure empathy. Instead, Bostet "gathers" or "coalesces" in the spaces where care is needed most, borrowing from the environment and the community to create a temporary vessel for their spirit. When Bostet is near, there is a feeling deep inside and the sharp edges of the world seem to soften. The air becomes warmer, imbued with the comforting, layered scents of simmering soup, clean linens, old books, and the beeswax from a thousand memorial candles. Their presence is a tangible weight, like the reassuring pressure of a blanket being tucked around your shoulders. In moments of great need—at the bedside of the sick, in the wild chaos of a nursery, or during a funerary vigil—Bostet may coalesce into a visible form. This form is never the same twice, but it is always a reflection of community. They may appear as a being composed of a soft, moving patchwork of countless arms and hands. There is the gnarled, gentle hand of a grandparent; the small, trusting hand of a child; the steady, capable hand of a medic; and the consoling hand of someone sharing in grief. Their body, if seen, is like a well-loved quilt, made of countless fabrics, each patch a story of care: a piece of a baby’s first blanket, the worn flannel of a favorite shirt from someone long-gone, the sterile blue of a surgical gown. Bostet has no face that could be carved or painted. To look at their head is to see a soft, featureless bowl of warm, low light, like a candle flame that doesn't flicker. It radiates a gentle heat and casts no harsh shadows. At other times, their face is described as a silent constellation of gentle, watching eyes of every shape and color, reflecting not judgment or pity, but a profound, unwavering, and unconditional acceptance. To be in the presence of Bostet is to feel the panic in your chest quiet, to feel the anxious furrow of your brow ease. It is not an awesome or terrifying power, but a deep, foundational one. It is the feeling of being truly seen, completely held, and safely part of a whole.
Manifestations
They are the feeling of safety and belonging. You can hear Bostet in the quiet, steady rhythm of a rocking chair, the soft hum of a lullaby, the gentle crackle of a fire, or the profound, shared silence between those who grieve together.